Arson ~ Phan

"Life is but a dream for the dead"

Dan opened his eyes, waking up from a sound sleep. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him, he noticed that his bed was colder than it usually was. When he looked at the other half of the bed, he found that Phil was no longer sleeping beside him. Instead, there was just an empty space where he had been.
Dan got out of bed, then trudged to the balcony that was connected to their apartment. Phil was always there on nights like this, where he would be plagued by nightmares too horrible to forget and too gruesome to describe. He would always stand outside on the balcony and breathe in the air from the night, but he instead just stared out at the city that expanded before him.

"Phil?" Dan called, breaking the silence. The older of the two made no movement, and continued to stand with his back towards Dan as if he hadn't heard him. His eyes traveled down every walkway and building, as if trying to memorize every nook and cranny.
Dan joined him, and put a hand on his shoulder. Phil stood still, eyes unblinking and jaw set in a tense line. Worry crossed Dans features, as he tried to get Phils attention.

It was as if Phil was caught within the confines of his own mind, unaffected by the world outside of his head. There was a dark and far away look in his eyes, something that had never been there before.
Dan snapped his fingers in Phils face, and Phil flinched. He then looked at Dan with confusion.
"When did you get out here?" Phil asked.
"Not long ago. You went into a trance again." Dan replied, causing more questions to come from his lover.
"Do you know how long I was out here?" Phil began, only to find Dan shaking his head.
"Do you want to tell me about it now? About the nightmares?" Dan pushed. Phil hesitated for a moment. He longed to tell him, to finally let someone in. He shook his head, refusing to let Dan know the darkness that stalked his mind constantly. Dan only nodded in understanding, before walking back towards their bedroom.

"Are you sure you're going to ne okay?" Dan asked. Phil nodded, going back to his trance-like state. The only difference, dan noticed, was that Phil had started to mutter a phrase just above a whisper.

"Life is but a dream for the dead." He said, over and over again.
It wasn't until about an hour later that Phil had gone back to bed.

*****
The scent of breakfast drifted throughout the apartment, easing Phil out of his sleep. He trudged out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where Dan was making French toast.
Phil sat at one of the chairs at the kitchen table. At the sound of the chair scraping across the floor, Dan turned for a split second to see Phil.
"How did you sleep?" He asked.
"Before or after the nightmare?" Phil asked in reply. When Dan gave him a look of annoyance, he finally answered. "I had trouble going back to bed, but that's nothing new."

Dan glanced at Phil with a concerned look in his eyes. "I know that I might be worrying too much, but I'm concerned about you." Dan paused to adjust the heat of stove. "You've been having more nights with you sleepwalking in the past week than you've ever had since I've known you. If there's something wrong, just tell me. I can't help you achieve peace in your mind unless you let me in."
Phil thought about it, about letting someone else know about the voices in his head. But instead of telling Dan, he just smiled at him. "Thank you, but my mind can't achieve peace." Phil replied, as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Dan turned around and set a plate of French toast before Phil, and another at the seat next to him. He heard Phil express his gratitude as he cleaned the utensils he had used. Dan then sat at the table, consuming the French toast he had made.
A silence fluttered in the air around them as they ate breakfast. They would glance at each other and smile every few seconds, then look back down at their plates. After about twenty minutes, they had finished and were getting ready to start their day.

Dan then walked into the bathroom, with a towel on his shoulder. "You want to join?" He asked the older boy, shouting across the silent apartment.
Phil looked in the direction of Dans voice before answering. "Defitnitly."

*****

Phil sat on the sofa in the lounge of their apartment, and turned on the television to watch the news. Dan walked in, drying his hair with a towel. He then gave Phil a dry towel to dry his own hair before looking at the television screen. He then cocked his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why are you watching the news?" He asked Phil. "I thought you said it was boring."

Phil looked up at Dan, the circles under his eyes becoming more visible. "I needed a distraction." He replied, then turned his head back towards the television. Dan shrugged it off, then sat next to Phil.
He looked to the woman on the screen, as bold lettering filled the bottom half of the screen. She spoke with an Australian accent, and she had a tag on the left side of her dress that read 'International Exchange Intern'.

The woman spoke of an artifact that had been stolen from a museum in Sydney, before changing to a story of a man who had been murdered in his own apartment. Before finishing the news broadcast, the woman's voice was cut off by the screen going dark.
Dan turned to see Phil with the remote in his hand. He set it down then walked away from the lounge, only to sit at the kitchen table. He had grabbed a pencil and a piece of papr, began to sketch what looked like a rose with a liquid dripping off of its thorns.

The sketch looked more realistic as Phil drew more, adding little details to the picture. He shaded some areas and left others blank. Phil then began to use his finger to blend some of the pencil markings together, causing his finhers to have a metallic look as they were covered with graphite.
Dan looked at Phil, happy to see that he was occupying his mind. As he continued to stare at Phil, he noticed that he was playing with something around his neck.

Dan looked closer. The light reflected off of the object, as if it were made of metal. Phil ram his fingers over the cold surface of the object, making it hard for Dan to see what it was. Dan then squinted his eyes, and saw what looked like a skull on one of the object.

His phone rang unexpectedly, making Dan jump. He looked to his right, at Phil, before getting his phone out of his pocket. He then pressed the green button and held the phone up to his ear.
"Hello?" He said.
"Hey Dan!" Replied a familiar voice.
"Oh, hi PJ!" Dan exclaimed, causing Phil to look at him. To what do I owe this surprise call?"
"Well, Tyler's in town for a few days -" PJ began, before being interrupted.
"Which Tyler? Tyler Oakley?"
"Honestly, how many Tylers on Youtube do you know?" PJ answered.
"Good point. Anyway, continue."
PJ sighed. "Well, Tyler's only going to be in town for a few day so I was thinking maybe we all could go around town, maybe check out the carnival while it's still there, then hit a club. It's going to be me, Tyler, Chris, and you and Phil."
"Okay, um... hold on." Dan replied, as he took the phone away from his ear. "Hey Phil!" Dan called, causing his roommate to look up. "PJ wants to know if you want to go to town then to a club with him, me, Chris, and Tyler."

The room was silent for a moment before Phil responded. "Sure, why not?"

A/N
Hey there.
So i finally uploaded a story. Took me about a year to write this, but no one's perfect. I sincerely hope you enjoy this as much as i enjoyed writing it!